The burials that survive from Palaeolithic times are the rare exceptions, most having been destroyed by the forces of man and nature, though in some areas, such as western Europe and West Asia, caves gave some protection to burials.
It is still debated whether Neanderthal people were intellectually capable of deliberate burial rather than mere disposal of the dead. A number of possible burials have been found: individually perhaps not convincing, but taken as a whole these provide suggestive evidence that by 60,000 BC Neanderthals did not discard their dead arbitrarily.
In some instances they placed the bodies in shallow pits, sometimes covering them with stones or bones or a small mound. With modern humans we are on much firmer ground. A number of individual burials and mass graves are known from sites in many parts of the world, the earliest examples coming from Qafzeh and Skhul in West Asia, dated around 90,000 BC.
There are considerable differences in the way that Neanderthals and modern humans disposed of their dead. Neanderthal skeletons are generally not accompanied by any grave offerings; occasional stone tools or animal bones found with them could be interpreted in this way but could alternatively have been incorporated by chance along with the earth used to cover the body.
In contrast, modern humans buried their dead with personal ornaments and other objects from their everyday life, presumably in readiness for their continued existence in another world. Often the body was scattered with red ochre: it has been suggested that this symbolized blood.
